Man accused of Lincolnton bank robbery arrested in Massachusetts

A man accused of robbing a Lincoln County bank earlier this month was apprehended on Wednesday in Massachusetts by the United States Marshal Service, police said.

Jean Pierre Gendron, 49, has been on the run from Lincolnton police and the Gaston County Police Department since the end of March.

The two agencies have been engaged in a massive manhunt for the suspect for at least a week.

Gendron is accused of robbing the People’s Bank on N.C. 27 West in Lincolnton on April 4 and stealing his ex-girlfriend’s vehicle and setting her Cherryville home on fire days earlier, police said.

During the alleged robbery, the suspect issued a bank teller a note and demanded money. He was not armed in the incident, police said.

Warrants were filed against Gendron for a number of serious charges including arson, robbery, breaking and entering, assault on a female, larceny and motor vehicle theft.

Local police agencies requested the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service’s Violent Offender Task Force (VOTF) in Western North Carolina after believing the Boston native may have fled the state and headed north.

Officers with the agency’s specialized task force and U.S. Marshals in Massachusetts were credited with Gendron’s arrest Wednesday.

The same day he was apprehended Gendron also allegedly robbed a bank in Sturbridge, Mass., again issuing a bank employee a note demanding money, according to the Worcester Telegram, in Worcester, Mass.

A van marked with writing, also known as a “livery van,” picked Gendron up from the scene after he left the area T.D. Bank, according to the Telegram.

He was reportedly headed back to North Carolina, witnesses told police.

Gendron will remain in custody pending extradition back to the area, police said.